Dear Helen: My partner and I are soon to embark on our summer “discussions” on the subject of when, exactly, our green beans should be picked and consumed. She wants to harvest them while they are, in my opinion, grossly immature. Another bean question: If beans are missed in the picking or left well past their prime, are they good only for the compost heap?
E.V.
For the very best, crisp and tender green (snap) beans, harvest while the pods are still young and slender, before the seeds within the pods begin to show as bulges. The pods should “snap” in two when doubled over, revealing a juicy, fleshy interior. Once the seeds swell, the pods become tough and fibrous.
About picking: I’ve seen people harvesting snap beans using what I think of as the one-handed jerk. This unfortunate method can easily partly uproot a plant and curtail its production of pods. Pick two-handed, steadying the plant with one hand while gently pulling off useable pods with the other.
I never fret too much over bean pods left to form seeds. At that stage, those seeds are delicious steamed tender and served with butter, salt and pepper. The term for them is “shell” or “horticultural” beans — seeds removed from the pods once they are formed but not yet dried out.
“Dry” beans are harvested when the pods are dried out and the seeds rattle within them.
Dear Helen: I have made a start on creating a “cottage” garden but need some help with choosing plants and placing them in the many still-empty spaces in the garden. Where do you suggest I go to find useful and affordable guidance for this project?
S.S.
I would start asking for advice at your favourite local garden centre(s). Most have people on hand who are very keen to offer suggestions — especially if you drop in at a time when they are least likely to be busy. Consider going early in the morning, at opening time.
To make the project relaxed and enjoyable, take it in small stages. Begin the space-filling with two or three specific planting sites in mind, along with the sun exposure of the sites and their soil conditions. Some perennials, delphiniums for example, require a rich, moist soil and full sun. Others, like border sedums, are fine in leaner soils.
I suspect that, in your quest for a “cottage garden” look, you have some specific plants in mind. Such gardens usually contain familiar shrubs and perennials that have long been beloved of gardeners. Some that come to mind are fragrant roses and lavender, bellflowers (campanula), lilac, honeysuckle, peonies, phlox and lilies.
Dear Helen: I’ve been told that I must “prune” my staked tomatoes. This is my first time growing the plants. Please describe how staked tomatoes are pruned.
P.F.
Staked tomatoes are termed “indeterminate” because they continue to grow and produce fruit until cold weather in the fall. To restrict these tomatoes to manageable, single-stem plants and keep them from becoming a tangled mess, suckering growth that appears at the junctions where leaf stems meet the main stem are snapped off.
Some tomato varieties, given congenial conditions, produce an abundance of foliage even when pruned of suckering growth. That will be a benefit if, at some point, heat levels rise during the summer.
So far, this spring and early summer has been very different from last year, when high temperatures and hot sunlight falling on tomatoes caused significant sunscald on the fruits. A canopy of leaves over the ripening tomatoes offers protection from this damage.
The only other pruning to be done on indeterminate tomatoes is in August, when the main stems are tip-pruned to stop further elongation and fruit formation. This pruning allows fruits already formed on the plants time to ripen on the vines.
On each plant, look for the uppermost cluster of formed tomatoes. Make the cut right above the leaf stem growing above that young cluster of tomatoes.
Email alert. Two weeks ago my internet/email service came to an abrupt halt. Please note the new address below. This address came into effect on Monday, June 24.
To anyone who sent an email to my previous address between Tuesday, June 18, and June 24, please re-send it. You will not have received a “failed delivery” notice.
